Fatherhood has brought Andy Dalton, A.J. Green closer

Life changed for Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green when he became a father. And in a roundabout way, it could help the Bengals on the field as well.

Via Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Green’s son Easton has given him plenty to work for, as well as a new appreciation for quarterback Andy Dalton.

“We’ve gotten closer I think because of it,” said Dalton, the father of two sons. “We have been at different phases in life. I came in married and he was dating. Then, I had a kid, he got married. Now he has a kid, too, so now we are finally at the same stage so I feel like it’s made us kind of closer. Not that we weren’t able to relate before, but now we really understand what each other is going through off the field, too.”

That kind of synergy comes at a good time for the team, after father figures such as Andrew Whitworth and Domata Peko left in free agency, leaving the team in the hands of Dalton and Green more than ever.

“We came in together and now our relationship is getting better each year,” Green said. “It’s definitely better now with the kids because now I can relate, we talk about little stuff like that.”

And now we can all look forward to fascinating conversations between them about all the things dads talk about, like car pool lines, lawn care, power tools, and how kids these days don’t understand how hard we had it back in our day.